Somehow I forgot to acknowledge June 5th this year. I really should have recognized it last year, because it marked forty years since one of the biggest tragedies of the eighties. No, it wasn’t a natural disaster or death of a celebrity; this was something far worse.
This was the day in 1985 that Katie Bueller lost the Vermont deal, and it was all Jeannie’s fault.
She had good reason to make a stir, though. Nobody believed her when she tried to prove that her brother was faking illness to get out of school and go on a Chicagoland adventure that showed off a wide variety of malaise-era automobiles. As with most John Hughes movies, the cars really helped shape this iconic film by being characters themselves; I’ve explored this before with another Hughes film, The Breakfast Club. Some are perfectly cast, others I’d change, but they’re all worth a deeper dive.
1978 Alfa Romeo Sport Sedan
Looking back, Ferris Bueller was kind of a jerk. He bothers his legitimately sick friend Cameron to come over and play with him on his day of truancy (though some claim that Ferris doesn’t exist at all and is really a Brad-Pitt-in-Fight-Club alter ego to feeble Cameron). Cameron will respond to Ferris’s whims and, more importantly, has a car.
Likely handed down from Cameron’s Italian-car-loving dad, Ferris describes this vehicle as a piece of sh*t. It is, but it’s also probably the coolest of the cars I’ll explore here and easily the one you’d choose out of this lot to take onto a Lime Rock Track Day. It’s a 1978 Alfa Sport Sedan, the terrible name for the American version of the Alfetta Berlina. Younger readers will wonder how a then-seven-year-old Alfa could be so shot and rust-rimmed, but anyone living in the Midwest then will wonder how it survived those winters at all.
Ignore the boxy looks; with a twin-cam four and rear-mounted transaxle, it’s the same drivetrain as the GTV coupe. I’d assume it’s a four-speed, though you could get a slushbox; a choice akin to buying Neapolitan ice cream without chocolate. Getting that operatic-sounding motor started was likely a task akin to raising the spirit of Alberto Ascari every time you turned the key, but it would be worth it.
1961 Ferrari 250GT California Spyder (replica)
Ferris wants to pick up his girlfriend from Shermer High School (actually Glenbrook North in Northbrook, Illinois), and has disguised himself as her grandfather to facilitate her liberation. He deems the Alfetta not credible as a grandfather car, and goads Cameron into taking the keys to his father’s pride and joy, summoning him from the 1953 Ben Rose house in Highland Park designed by a student of Mies van der Rohe (Rose was, in fact, an exotic car collector himself).
The car was a 1961 Ferrari 250GT California Spyder stored in the glass garage next to the main house. The “Ferrari” was, of course, not the real thing but a kit car with a Ford V8 and automatic transmission. Reportedly, it was hated by all who drove it – when it ran, that is. Breakdowns were apparently common on the set.
Honestly, other than the real thing’s lovely Colombo V-12 engine noise, an actual 1961 250GT is likely horrible to drive by modern standards, but at a value of around $18 million today, it’s more Investment Object than car.
The pickup location at Glenbrook North is still there for long-suffering parents to wait for their kids to show up, including one that does dumb-ass posts for an ill-publicized website.
A brand-new elementary school has sprouted up across the street, but otherwise it’s as if Rooney is still standing at the top of the steps (and that’s the auditorium, so realistically he wouldn’t have been coming out there).
1985 Pontiac Fiero 2M4
Ferris’s sister inexplicably received a car for her birthday while Ferris only got a computer, even though back then a desktop machine likely cost more than a beat-up Nova. However, Jeannie didn’t get a hooptie; she drove an early Fiero.
Sure, with the Iron Duke it was probably awful, but for posing you couldn’t top pulling up in that plastic-bodied Pontiac; it still looks good.
Jeannie must have looked cool cruising around fictitious Shermer (it’s really Northbrook) in her mock sports car, but then again nobody puts Baby in a corner. I hope she checked the oil regularly.
1985 Plymouth Reliant
The arch nemesis of Ferris is Ed Rooney, Dean of Students at Shermer High. He drives a K-Car Plymouth Reliant, a car that even then told the world that you’d given up on your dreams.
It’s a perfect car for a public-school educator of the day; my guess is that he had a 1974 Dodge Dart with a Slant 6 before that, just like the librarian at your elementary school. He lucked out by not having bought a Volare.
1985 Audi 5000 Turbo
We know that Ferris’s father has a well-paying job in The Loop downtown. His car of choice is an Audi 5000 S Turbo, the aerodynamic American version of the third-generation 200 that got stiffed with awful rectangular headlights at first. This was in the final days of the big Audis being considered desirable by the masses before 60 Minutes rigged up an earlier to accelerate out of control with all of its 100 horsepower. Values fell off a cliff.
The car is well cast and shows Mr. Bueller to be a relatively high-level white-collar employee but not a take-no-prisoners, ruthless President-level C-suite guy. If that were the case, he’d be in an E23 7-series BMW or a W126 Mercedes 300SD with a diesel motor that sounds like it’s churning rocks.
Note the “Mr Mom” license plate; all of John Hughes’ movies have cars with tags featuring references to his other films.
1985 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country Wagon
Now, here’s one that I take issue with. There is no way that Ferris’s real estate agent mom would be driving a dopey Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country wagon. Note the “Vacation” plate.
Even in period, we all knew this thing was stupid; undersized to a fault when Iacocca thought gas was going to be five bucks a gallon by 1985.
A far more accurate choice for the North Shore then and today would have been a Volvo; a 7-series estate back then.
If we were going to stay American, I’d go with a “real” full-sized woody wagon like a B-body Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser or a Panther-body Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park wagon, like the one my family owned.
Seriously, Mrs. Bueller didn’t stand a chance in the Vermont deal with a friggin K-car.
Like most John Hughes productions, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is not a great movie by any film historian’s standards, but it’s inextricably part of the fabric of our eighties youth. Living only a few miles from the water tower once emblazoned with SAVE FERRIS means it’s something I can’t help but remember, and as an Autopian, that includes the now-classic cars in the film.
As Ferris said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Top graphic images: Paramount Pictures
I would daily the shit out of the LeBaron T&C.
My favorite high school movie of that era Three O’Clock High has it’s protagonist Jerry the nerd driving his mom’s Chrysler product station wagon with SUPRMOM plate when his Karmann Ghia has a flat . School bully Buddy Revel drives a beat up what looks to be a Dodge Charger sans door cards . Now I’ve got got it’s opening Tangerine Dream theme Something To Remember Me By in my head and also in my music library .
For a more modern school movie with excellent sound track I highly recommend 2008’s Assassination of a High School President . Bruce Willis is the school principal and while there aren’t really any notable cars it’s main character Bobby Funke who everyone insists on calling Funkie tools around on a 10 speed with hilarious attempts to pass his driving test . Catch it on free apps CW/Roku/Pluto/Tubi .
Unpopular take: Ferris Bueller is a jerk.
I went a bit further and called him a spoiled, rich self-entitled narcissistic prick.
It was the 80s. We all did that, and then grew up.
yes we grew up but, no not all of us were like Ferris, we all did not have time, money, birth lottery, or inclination to be that way. Remember there we a number of us who were the bullied picked on nerds we were not all like him.
That isn’t an unpopular take.
Rooney’s Reliant is a mid-spec SE sedan which in 1985-6 meant it was his personal car, there was a plainer sedan and coupe only base trim that would’ve been what was in the school district fleet. Later on in the run what had been the top LE trim became the only one so those started showing up in low-bid contract fleets.
Glenbrook doesn’t have a school fleet so assuming to be realistic they had it as his personal vehicle. It fits perfectly.
That being said it would’ve been funny to have him going around in the Driver’s Ed car.
It is indeed “Not a great film by any Film historian’s standards”
That is because it is a movie. A tight 103 minutes of mindless enjoyment that is probably John’s best effort of the decade. I wish we had movies like this still being made. The 80s had so many unique stories.
Has no one else gone on a date and made a dinner reservation at a fancy pants restaurant under the name Abe Froman?
Nope, but I have used George Peterson, Tom Bueller, Edward Rooney, and my favorite non Bueller related alias, Vince Klortho
“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is not a great movie by any film historian’s standards“. Oh, I must strongly disagree with that statement! Maybe a snooty historian who only likes “films” that most of the rest of us would consider unwatchable. But to those of us who love real “movies”, this is an absolute classic.
Also, can anybody figure out what movie is referenced by Ed Rooney’s plate? Hard to read but looks like “LF BOO”??
The first 0 is actually a D if that helps.
First character is a 4
4FBDO = For Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
In my mind, Grace absolutely drove an AMC Eagle.
The scene with the dad driving the Audi is the best part of the movie in terms of cars.
Also, the fake Ferrari just *had* to have problems to make it feel more authentic LOL
I completely agree! John Hughes said so much with car casting (aside from the Lebaron, that does seem weird in a house with an Audi and a Fiero). Buckle up because my inner car nerd and my past running a movie theater just came together with an idea.
I want to take this idea one step further: the 1980s may have been the ultimate decade for car movies.
And not just movies about cars. I mean, of course you’ve got Back to the Future, Christine, The Wraith, Vacation, The Blues Brothers, The Cannonball Run, Used Cars, Tucker, Maximum Overdrive, The Road Warrior, Safari 3000, The Junkman, The Last Chase, Stroker Ace, Black Moon Rising and a whole pile of other movies where a car or multiple cars are absolutely vital to the plot.
The 1980s as a decade was also incredibly good at using cars as instant characterization (Hughes was probably best, but lots of directors were doing this) or as a means of telling the internal story/growth of a character. You introduce the character driving or being dropped off and you know them. Cameron’s dad barely needs any screen time because the Ferrari tells us everything we need to know about him. The same goes for the cars in The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Uncle Buck, Roadhouse, Rain Man, Repo Man, Robo Cop, Driving Miss Daisy, The Hitcher, and Adventures in Babysitting. The car tells you who someone is before they do or it serves as this beautiful allegory of the growth of the character.
A lot of 1970s car movies saw cars and trucks as the tool of the outlaw, the drifter, or someone trying to escape from something/someone/somewhere. The 1980s brought cars into the suburbs, high-school parking lots, family vacations, horror movies, sci-fi, comedy, and everyday life. It was awesome and they kind of blended in beyond some very iconic rides. Which is a shame, because the utilization of cars was great even at a time where a lot of them sucked.
I know the early 2000s gave us another big wave of car movies with stuff like The Fast and the Furious, The Transporter, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Italian Job, and more, but those mostly sent the car back into the world of street racers and criminals. The ’80s let cars do everything and tell some great stories. That is all without even factoring in television, which is it’s own great list.
Agreed. And I would argue that (one of at least) the reasons is that in the 80s cars were spread out and distinct enough to actually be in character.
For example, today the driver of an Audi and the driver of a BMW are completely interchangeable. In the 80s Audis and BMW were completely different.
You mention some greats there, which has me thinking The Autopian needs to put together a Film Festival. How cool would it be to create a lineup of our Top 3 car movies via a poll, then arrange special showings at a selection of drive-ins across the country? I think an Autopian night at a drive-in would be a lot of fun.
Biggest issue I can see is cost. First to rent the drive-in for a private showing, then the likely greater expense of paying the studios for showing what is likely a 30 or 40 year old movie that they’ve made bank on already.
On second thought, maybe we should just put together a Top 10 (or 20, or whatever) poll and let folks stream them at their leisure.
I would hope Repo Man would be on that list someplace.
Repo Man is way better than Ferris Buellers Day Off. Awesome soundtrack, totally off the wall plot, and the generic labels are great. I have lost count of how many times I have watched Repo Man.
“Oh, you do not want to look in the trunk.”
100% agree!
I would add cannonball run even if it feels a bit 1970s.
Lots of cars in Planes, Trains and Automobiles – https://www.imcdb.org/m93748.html
Car casting is really important, IMO.
I have to say, the El Camino in “My Name is Earl” is perfect.
And shout out to “King of the Hill”, when Khan has something of a breakdown, and decides to become a Redneck. He shows up in an El Camino, and says to the gang, “I know what you’re thinking – why not an IROC? Why not a Z car? Well, it’s like Elvin says, an El Camino is a way of life.”
The El Camino is perfection, you nailed that.
King of the Hill was excellent for car casting. Hank starting out with Ford Rangers was spot on. He only upgraded to the F-250 when his old truck died and he saw the utility of the bigger truck. Boomhauer’s Coronet feels right. John Redcorn’s Jeep YJ with classic rock blasting is an excellent way to establish his unique brand of coolness. And, of course, Bill’s old Ford Escort is the saddest and most accurate car casting I’ve seen in a while.
Car casting is one of my favorite things in the world when done correctly and my biggest gripe when it is off (which usually involves someone who is supposed to be barely scraping by pulling up in a resto-modded and lifted 1972 Ford Bronco).
I wonder what Charlie Sheen’s character drove? I’m picturing something like Snake’s “Li’l Bandit” from The Simpsons.
Side note, he’s credited as “Boy in Police Station”, but is it possible he was playing himself?
Yeah, probably a beat up, mismatched panel coupe from the mid 70s.
Did youbsee how haggard he looked? He was probably already dead, so of course, he’d drive the Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor from The Wraith.
73 Dodge Charger mostly primer and broken exhaust. Auto of course.
His character strikes me as a motorcycle kind of punk.
in that time period, the base Fiero would have been quite a cool car for a girl to drive. I think Ferris was a jerk.
Ferris was the worst.
Ferris is probably dead, having screwed over the wrong person one too many times.
Side note: Jeffrey Jones, the guy who played Principal Cooney, was arrested in 2002 for employing a minor to take sexually explicit photos and possession of child pornography.
Holy crap.. and he kept working.. sure, why not?
The joke was that in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Jeffrey Jones decided not to reprise his role in the 1988 film because he wasn’t interested in being in something over 18 years old.
ouch
Agree!
“my guess is that he had a 1974 Dodge Dart with a Slant 6 before that, just like the librarian at your elementary school.”
The librarian at my elementary school drove a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and all us boys who liked cars drooled over it!
The Turbo Bird was and is a seriously cool machine. Bravo to that librarian.
I couldn’t tell you what the librarian at my elementary school drove, but I can 100% remember that my high school geometry teacher drove a black over tan 1964 Mercedes Benz 300 SEL (I got to drive it around the block from the auto shop classroom to his parking space behind the gym once…) and my AP US History teacher drove an orange IROC Z. This was around 2006/2007.
Our HS Physics teacher drove a new 84? Firebird. His son was a HS student also. One Monday morning, the teacher came in and dropped the Firebird’s door handle on his desk and asked if anyone wanted to buy a ‘slightly used’ Firebird! It was a smaller town, so everyone already knew that is son had totaled the Firebird Saturday night.
My woodshop teacher in JH and then HS drove a 1st Probe GT. I loved that car too.
Yeah, but she forgot all about the library like she told her old man, now.
My high school librarian drove a Dakota V-8 4×4 with a manual in Hunter Green. I loved it, everyone else thought I was nuts…
English teacher at my high school drove a Porsche 911 Whale tail. This was in the late 70’s in Fairbanks, Ak. Never saw it out in the winter, and the story is when her kid was old enough to drive is that essential ignition parts were removed from the car to keep it from being driven.
“Sir, we’re professionals “.
” ‘Professional’ what?”
“Uh, what country do you think this is?”
And that look he gives the Ferrari when it pulls up….Always cracks me up!
Totally agree. James and I talked about it on Reels and Wheels and the car choices were up there with the human casting.
https://reelsandwheels.libsyn.com/ferris-buellers-day-off
Did they use a cannon to launch the “Ferrari” over the crest while the parking garage attendants were driving? Or did it get lucky and start that day? “Of course I speak English, what country do you think this is?”
Good call calling this a car movie.
I was 17 when this movie came out and absolutely hated Ferris. He was a spoiled, rich self-entitled narcissistic prick. I hated the movie, even if I did really like other movies of the genre and time.
Not a big fan of any Hughes movie myself that don’t star any SCTV people. Particularly Candy.
John Hughes movies, like a succession of about a dozen of them, their plot lines, along with their musical tracks, formed my development years.
And each had at least one cute girl in them for us teenage boys.
We can’t be friends
The song played in a couple spots in the movie, “Oh Yeah” by Yello sparked my love for ambient techno music, which I’m listening to right now on my headphones, 41 years later.
Oh Yeah, I still have that ‘album’ on cassette…since ripped to mp3 along with another one of their albums. Fun music…miss the ‘fun’ 80s music.
Now the important question – what did Ben Stein drive?
Peugeot diesel.
“A ‘poo’ something something. Anyone?
“Ferris’s sister inexplicably received a car for her birthday while Ferris only got a computer, even though back then a desktop machine likely cost more than a beat-up Nova”
But Ferris did at some point acquire an E-mu Emulator II, which would have cost $8,000-$10,000. So about the same as a Fiero.
As a young musician in the 1980s, that was the bridge too far for credibility. May as well given him a Fairlight CMI
That’s about the same as my take at the time.
Then around 88-89 when I worked at Dunkin Donuts while in High School, I had a similar age coworker who was a student at the fancy private high school in town. He had an Emulator I.
So…
The Volvo wagon in 1980’s Chicago north suburbs is the right call for Mrs. Bueller. My college roommate was an extra in the classroom scene where Sloane gets called out by the nurse in FBDO.
My wife still gets annoyed me when I do the whole ‘flick-my-cheek-and-use-my-tongue-to-make-the-water-dripping-sound’ that I learned from Cameron in this movie.
When Cameron was in Egypt’s land, let my Cameron go.
I’d still take the replica Fauxrari. If nothing else, I’d park it in the garage and admire it.
Ferris Bueller you’re my hero.
Let’s do some speculating. What do we think Sloane Peterson, Ferris’s girlfriend, drove?
Is she the standard VW Cabriolet girl? Maybe a Saab 9000 convertible? Or…
A bitchin’ Camaro?
I think you nailed it with the VW Cabrio except it would have to be her summer car.
Let’s get wacky with it… Renault Alliance convertible.
Good one…I remember a particular fine blond girl in HS that drove a brand new non-red one. Daddy’s girl fur sure, although she did work as cashier at Kroger’s (which was the ‘fancy’ grocery store in our small town). Most teens were expected to work for their spending $$ back then, even the ‘good family’ kids.
She looked like somebody who could get used to being chauffered.
LeBaron convertible. In keeping with the Chrysler – keeping up with the Joneses suburbia theme.
If there’s a 9000 convertible, I’d like to see it (I’m guessing you meant 900). Either way, VW Cabrio would be as expensive as I’d go. We’re Northbrook, not Winnetka or Lake Forest, on the wrong side of the tracks part of North Shore.
Sorry.
(Puts on flame proof suit)
I’m not a big fan of Saabs.
The character would have to have a… character before we can speculate about that character’s car. Sloane Peterson does absolutely nothing in this movie. Hardly has any lines, no back story, no charisma, no plight.
Even as two dimensional as the moustache twirling baddie Principal Rooney is, at least there’s a car for that.
But she is the epitome of the overstyled, trend following high school Barbie. In those days a VW cab, Saab 900, BMW 3 series convertible accessorized girl.
She had exactly the character of many similar girls in my 80s HS class…typically, would be arm candy for some douche in a new Z28, seen but that’s about it.
obvious choice – BMW 325i convertible
Except neither the 325i nor the E30 convertible was available in the US when this was filmed in late ’85.
It was the 80s. All of the hot girls drove white Cabriolets.
You forgot to mention that Mr. Rooney’s K-Car has the plate 4FBDO which is apparently for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (not sure where the 4 goes). Jeannie’s Fiero also has TBC for The Breakfast Club, but I can’t actually find a picture of it.
I couldnt either, and forgot about Rooney’s car!
This was all new information for me on the deep cut license plates. Thanks for the education today!
It was the 4th film Hughes directed.